Pass Labs X150.5 Audition.......Almost

[Jack in Wilmington]

When you say what league or what Pass compares to are you talking competition or what does Pass sound like? In my opinion build and quality Pass is in with Levinson, Krell, Classe etc. When I say that, each will have their sound but all are high quality and over built. Sound wise I really can't say Pass sounds close to anything else I've heard. Having owned Krell and CJ, Pass is some where between them with bringing the best of both to the table, solid state control and transparency similar to Krell but to it's attribute IMO not as iron grip and warmer, wonderful midrange and musicality like the CJ, but again not to the CJ extent. If the associated gear can deliver it Pass is capable of revealing wonderful textures of the sound.

Blackraven, the Maggies must draw more current, my X 250 gets warm but not to the extent you mention, I don't think I've ever felt the front get warm. Granted though, if you don't want extra heat in the room you might want to reconsider. To my knowledge Pass does not have a switch, the amp is designed to run Class A to a point and then A/B. I know the X250 doesn't. Heat or not, I'd love to be able to afford a set of Passes Class A monoblocks.

Mr P. the switch I was talking about is on the Plinius. In the winter I wouldn't mind a little more heat in my room. My Jolida tube amp would warm things up nicely.

There is a pair of XA-160.5 mono blocks on the Gon for $13,950. Not that I was trying to spend your money. They retail for $24k? wow.

[blackraven]

Here is what Pass says about the heat in the manual of the X250-

Our environment is about 23 degrees Centigrade, room temperature, and the heat sinks will rise to about 25 degrees C. above that, for a heat sink temperature of 48 degrees C. In your setup the temperature may vary a bit due to line voltage and ventilation, but it is not a big deal. You should be able to put your hands on the heat sinks without discomfort for 10 seconds or so.

48 Celsius is 120F. I would say that mine gets a little hotter than this after about 1.5-2 hours of play time. Even the front panel gets very warm. The heat does not bother me but it may in the summer. But I don't use the system much in the summer as I am out doors a lot due to the short summers here in MN.